The Image staff muses on the culture of keeping up appearances

NYFW: Duckie Brown's accent color is 'county orange'

February 15, 2009 | 3:18
pm

NEW YORK -- My buddy Chip in Brentwood is the only fellow Vermonter I know in Southern California, and there's been many a time when we've found ourselves laughing inanely about things those outside of the Green Mountain State would hardly notice.

They usually involve the manufacture of maple syrup, hunting season or a guy named Lorne who was maligned on the walls of every cubicle in the UVM library for his less-than-gentlemanly treatment of the state's moose population.

One time, we started laughing about a hue we dubbed "county orange" -- it's the particular shade of blaze orange associated with hazmat suits, hunting vests, road crew workers and guests of the county penal system. To us, the image of a guy clad in county orange and leaning on a shovel was as familiar a roadside attraction as the Marlboro Man billboard that towered over Sunset outside the Chateau Marmont for years.

That's what came to mind yesterday at the Duckie Brown show, which, like most of the men's shows in Milan and Paris, (and so far, here in New York as well) didn't stray far from a basic black and gray color palette accented with a single pop of color. For the Duckie Brown boys, that was -- you guessed it -- county orange.

That the collection was full of loose-fitting padded trousers, turtlenecks and cold-weather gear that brought to mind the more fashion-forward of the snowboarder set made it all the more appropriate for the cooler climes of slopeside Vermont.

That I could almost/possibly/kind of/sort of could squint and just maybe see pieces of this collection pass unnoticed by my home state's tribe of "ruralsexuals" (think buffalo plaids, trucker caps, Dickies and Wranglers, the only emolliant they've ever known is something called Bag Balm) was noteworthy, though I don't expect Vermont Fashion Week to be announced any time soon.Then again, Karl Lagerfeld did recently buy a house in Grand Isle right on Lake Champlain.